Despite resolution 2334 issued by the Council in 2016, Israeli settlements continue to be established while violence and provocations from both sides cast doubt on a possible solution to the conflict, lamented the envoy of the UN, Tor Wennesland.
Presenting to the Security Council his report on the situation in the Middle East, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, first of all recalled that resolution 2334 calls on Israel to immediately stop and completely all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, going on to list the longest list of the most recent violations of this resolution by Israeli settlers.
From the July 25 announcement by the Israeli government of plans to build 1,215 housing units near the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Tuba, to the decision two days later by the Israeli Supreme Court to accept the construction of settlers at an illegal site in Mitzpeh Kramin, from the annexation, for the second time this year, with the help of Israeli soldiers, of an unoccupied Palestinian home near Hebron, to new 700 housing projects in East Jerusalem near of Palestinian neighborhoods, this list is accompanied by 316 demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank, justified by the absence of building permits impossible to obtain by these same Palestinians, resulting in the eviction of 237 people, including 116 children.
Added to this is the departure of almost half of the families of a community of Ras al Tin shepherds on July 12, and the planned destruction in the locality of Masafer Yatta.
The same 2016 resolution calls for immediate measures to avoid all acts of violence against civilians, including all acts of terror, provocation and destruction, but, according to the Special Coordinator, in the West Bank, 29 Palestinians, including six children, have were killed and 1,813 people including 194 children were injured by the Israeli security forces during operations to maintain order or during clashes.
For their part, Israeli settlers carried out 128 attacks against Palestinians, causing one death and 51 injuries. In Gaza, during the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in August, there were 49 Palestinian deaths, more than half of them civilians, and according to the Gaza authorities, the destruction of 600 homes .
Tor Wennesland described the almost daily menu of provocations, mass attacks and violence between Palestinians and settlers over the summer, and the often disproportionate and sometimes lethal responses by Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
He also made a point of recalling, in the name of the same resolution, that provocative statements and incitement to violence continued on both sides, placing back to back several elected Knesset members who accuse Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of being a terrorist or instigating violence against Palestinians while on the move, and PLO or Fatah officials who openly glorify perpetrators of terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Positive signs
The Special Coordinator noted positive signs in measures to address actions on the ground jeopardizing the two-state solution. Among them, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ contacts with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, then, during the visit of American President Joe Biden to Israel and the occupied territories, the announcement of contributions of several hundred million dollars to hospitals in East Jerusalem, to the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and to the response to food insecurity.
Advances that coincide with the issuance of 16,000 new work permits in Israel for Palestinians and a significant increase in traffic and the exchange of goods at the main crossing points.
Nevertheless, the UN envoy noted some worrying setbacks, such as the withdrawal of accreditation from six Palestinian schools accused of anti-Israeli incitement by the Israeli Ministry of Education, the designation of several NGOs as associations and the search and closure by the police of seven organizations in Ramallah, as well as the sentencing to 12 years in prison of Mohammed el-Halabi, former director of World Vision in Gaza, for involvement in terrorist crimes, despite procedural irregularities.
Tor Wennesland cited comments by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said he was gravely concerned about the escalation of violence in Gaza and the deteriorating security and armed Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the West Bank.
Guterres reminds Israel in this regard that it must comply with the obligations of international humanitarian law, which requires the proportional use of force, and take all possible precautions to spare civilians during its military operations. But he regrets that the lack of intra-Palestinian unity continues to harm Palestinian national aspirations and its ability to meet the needs of the population.
The Special Coordinator noted with satisfaction Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s reaffirmation of his support for a two-state solution on 22 September, as well as President Mahmoud Abbas’s appeal to the United Nations General Assembly for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the restoration of a “political horizon”, but he regretted that the absence of a meaningful peaceful process to end the Israeli occupation and the conflict was causing a dangerous deterioration of the situation in the occupied territories, contributing to the perception that the conflict is unresolved.
“Israelis and Palestinians need to determine how they envision their future,” he said, noting that “negotiations cannot be postponed indefinitely.”